


Compromise

by Magpythe



Category: Magic Kaito
Genre: Blood, Gen, Heist, Saguru has a panic attack or twelve, Snipers, Truce, boat heist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-24 06:30:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18565837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magpythe/pseuds/Magpythe
Summary: Heists on boats never seem to go as planned, do they Kid?"But grey is not a compromise -It is the bridge between two sides"-101010 by Sleeping at LastFor the Sagukai Creations Challenge round 2, Colors. My prompt was grey.





	Compromise

Everything stopped.

The ringing in his ears was deafening. He ran to the edge, looked down: nothing. The ocean churned under the boat, and Saguru remembered the cape, the position of the boat’s motor, currents, the temperature of the water… He couldn’t feel the rail or his palms as reality ground to a halt. The water frozen in place as he felt the milliseconds tick by one by one, his body like it was lifting up into the air. No--this wasn’t happening. None of this felt real. Kid couldn’t be…

Saguru hoisted himself onto the rail, felt the bitter icy wind cut into his face. The ocean was deafening. It was deafening. He felt the pressure slam into his stomach, then his legs, and the sky was above him instead. Trembling white pin pricks, a blinding pale hole in the night. Keibu was yelling.

Saguru was taken below deck.

The boat stopped. 

Saguru checked the time. Five minutes had passed since the shot had gone off. He moved to head back up and was stopped by his coworkers, so he let them do their jobs and left for the small stairway he knew led up above that Keibu was sure to be neglecting in his focus on the cold, deadly waters below the craft they were in.

Out of earshot of the other task force members, Saguru’s pace quickened, first to a brisk walk, then a jog, and nearly to a run when he collided with something--and fell flat on his back, the thing, a person, fallen directly on him. He cursed the collision for the new, worse ringing in his skull, and made eye contact. Something was off. Cold. His legs were cold. Saguru looked down. Grey soaked suit pants were pressed into the sides of his own legs. Instinctively, he snatched a handful of--remarkably dry--blue button up shirt.

“ _ You, _ ” he hissed, eyes wide. The Kid reflected his look, albeit with more of an element of fear, if the grin breaking out on the face over his own was any indication.

Kid was about to say something, the sound morphing into a small yelp when Saguru made a single sharp tug down with the fist in Kid’s shirt, and swung his other arm around to hold the other teenager tight against his chest. A sharp breath and a hiss of air back out didn’t immediately communicate the problem with this scenario to Saguru. It was only Kid’s strained voice that broke Saguru out of his daze.

“Now, now--” he growled out, words contrasting the emotion. He ground the edge of a palm down into Saguru’s shoulder. “If it’s a hug you wanted, I would suggest  _ Keibu _ .” An elbow into Saguru’s gut to start trying to pry off Saguru’s arms, before Saguru threw his arms over his head, staring at the ceiling.  _ He was such an idiot. _

Kaito moved away into a crouch, then stopped, tilted his head, and gave Saguru a pat on the cheek with a soaked glove. “...He...Detective?”

“You’re wearing a kevlar vest. Your ribs are broken,” Saguru stated, voice dead, up at the ceiling of the hallway.

“Not  _ all  _ of them,” was the cheeky response.

Sagruru brought a hand to rub at his temple. “I’d  _ hope not _ . God, how did you--” He trailed off, gestured at Kid’s person. “Get back here?”

Kaitou Kid stopped, glanced behind them, and moved a heavy coat Saguru hadn’t properly perceived up over his shoulders before shucking his shirt off. Saguru blinked, lost. Though, he noted there was, in fact, a vest.

“Well, I’m quick.” Kid said, whipping a tan shape out of nowhere and donning it in a blur, then a blouse, and suddenly there was a disconcertingly femmenine torso on Kid. Ah. Okay. “I grabbed a hold of the side of the boat before I hit the water and found the ladder. Simple.”

“...But you were submerged up to your waist.” He noted. A wig replaced the hat when Saguru was in the middle of a blink, and the monocle was switched out with brown contacts in a less reality bending amount of time. Saguru frowned. A long skirt was pulled from the blouse. His frown deepened. “Why are you letting me see this? Are you planning on changing disguises again after I let you go?”

“No, no. You said it yourself. You know my ribs are injured and you barreled into me and grabbed me. You’re just not going to tell anyone about this disguise at all. Deal?”

Saguru stared. Kid’s suit was gone. He sat up, doing his best to ignore the twinge of remorse. This was an interesting situation. Stressful, but interesting. It had certainly never happened before. Kaitou Kid? Actually relying on him not to disclose information? An act that could get him arrested? That was exciting, even though it was framed as trust solely in his sense of honor, it was more than he’d gotten before. Good. Kid stayed crouched. Saguru looked him over, eyes wandering down, and he realised the dilemma. 

“...Did you forgot to pack shoes?”

“Shut up,” came the distinctly Kuroba Kaito-like voice. Saguru smiled.

“Well,” he said, countenance helplessly smug as he extended an arm. “Might I help you to your room then, madam?” It was a one hundred percent Kuroba knife-filled glare that was sent his way before morphing into a mocking, toothy smile, and that made the situation so much better. Maybe he could convince the thief to let him look over the damage? Doubtful.

“If it’s no trouble, then  _ please _ ,” Kuroba's acting would’ve been perfect, were it not for the gritted teeth. “... _ you absolute gentleman. _ ”

After the spectacle he made, it wouldn’t be very feasible to ask Keibu to focus on finding the assassin. That, he noted, he’d have to take care of himself. If they hadn’t already donned a wetsuit and left the scene, he’d have a whole ride back to land to find the perpetrator. Kuroba did take precedence, though. A familiar hand took hold of his arm, brown eyes glaring away from Saguru’s face with a pout.

“...Is this woman in the guest registry or would it be best if you were not seen?”

“You really think I’m bad at this, huh,” Kid snapped in a calm, quiet voice that was, of course, not his usual. “...My  _ name  _ is Fujimoto Miwako, and a certain thief knocked me down and stole my heels, which I have  _ mixed feelings _ about. After all, it  _ was _ Kaitou Kid.”

“Of course.” 

“I’m going to get my  _ other pair _ from my room.”

“Ah, so you didn’t forget them entirely.”

“You try hiding all that on your person, dimwit,” Kid muttered.

“Wow, what a rude persona you’re taking on.”

“You’re insufferable.”

“Right, who is talking again?”

“ _ It’s Fujimoto-san. _ ”

“Of course, my apologies,” Saguru bowed his head with a grin, resting a hand on his chest with a flourish. Everything was going to be okay. Kuroba hadn’t vanished under ice cold waves, and hadn’t been fatally shot. He was still breathing with some sense of ease, and Saguru himself was helping hide a secret for the thief--admittedly something he’d been hoping to be allowed in on at a heist. 

“You really can’t resist flirting can you?”

“With you? Hardly.” It was a bold proposal, though Kid took it as the joke it was meant to be as a fallback.

They rounded the corner that led to his own cabin and others, and presumably Fujimoto-san’s, and a task force member stood in front of Saguru’s door, turning to look at them as they came. Before the eyes could meet his, Saguru made himself appear more somber: replacing the smile with a stern expression, and setting his shoulders.

“Arakida-san. Tell Nakamori-Keibu immediately that Kid has been on this floor recently. He took this woman’s shoes, and may have been planning on disguising as her. We need to stop searching the ocean for Kid and instead focus on the sniper and the boat as a whole.”

A nod, and the officer jostled the police radio off his hip to convey the information.

“Which room did you say was yours, madam?”

“It’s right this way, to the left here,” Kid said, voice coy. “Thank you, detective, for the help.”

“Of course.”

It was mildly irritating that there  _ had _ to be someone down here with them, though he supposed it was bound to happen. He watched Fujimoto-san open the door to her room, take two steps in, and balk. “Detective!” she called.

Arakida’s head turned despite getting an ear blown out by Keibu, Saguru noted as he stepped up the threshold. “What’s wrong?”

“Look, there! My shoes!”

They were passed to Arakida to take above deck, since Keibu still hadn’t explicitly said Saguru could go back up there, and like that they were alone under the pretense of ‘maybe this is a trap to get her alone in her room and knock her out--they are her only shoes. She can’t leave now.’

“You can’t go above deck?” Kid asked, still in character.

“Ah, no, I caused a small scene when I thought the Kid had been shot.”

“Oh?”

Saguru didn’t answer that, instead opting to change the subject while they were alone. ”Do you know what the sniper might look like?” Fujimoto-san let out a sigh, leaned back slightly on her bed. “Well I didn’t see them, but I know they  _ usually _ wear black and grey, and sometimes a handlebar mustache.” An individual in particular or a distinguishing trait of the group? What a humorous thing it would be for a band of assassins to use as their brand.

“You’ve gotten to see one or two of them up close, then?” he asked. Kid nodded.

“So you’d recognise the faces of some of them.”

“Yes. But we’d need evidence to do anything about it.”

“Well, you have my number. If a familiar face or a clue makes itself known to you, let me know.”

“There could be more than one. Don’t get cornered.”

“Is there anything else you can tell me?”

“One of them, the one with the mustache, he always shoots for the heart. Are you wearing a vest?”

“Admittedly, no.”

“Get one, idot.”

Both of them heard the heavy footsteps and recognised them for what they were before the door slammed open and Nakamori Ginzo entered the cabin like Hagrid kicking down the door to get Harry Potter at the lighthouse. Saguru blinked, Kid balked, and Keibu roared, pointing a finger at the woman in the room “You! Which way was the Kid going?” Without waiting for a response he also turned to Saguru. “You can go upstairs if you aren’t going to throw yourself off the damn boat.” Startled brown eyes turned to stare at Saguru before snapping back to the police inspector. 

“H-he ran towards the cabins on the other side of the boat, sir.” At that, Keibu threw his arms up in the air. “Then what are we doing over here!? We need to head to that side, NOW.”

“But the shoes were already returned to the cabin by the time we got back, sir. He must have doubled back here before moving on.” That stopped Keibu. Saguru noted Fujimoto-san’s eyes boring into him. Kid could relax, he wasn’t about to out him.

“So there’s no way of knowing where he is right now...” Keibu turned, grabbed Saguru and Fujimoto-san’s faces with a sharp tug. 

“Ow!” Fujimoto-san yelped. Keibu nodded, pleased. “Search everyone! Be ready for the possibility of an assassin on board! Keep in constant communication! Let’s go!”

 

\---

 

“Are you doing that on purpose?” Saguru asked, kicking a boot lightly against the thief’s shoe, ‘kindly donated,’ he’d said, by another guest. Fujimoto-san’s mouth tugged to a pout. 

“Says the one who started it...” 

Saguru rolled his eyes into his glass of water. It was dinner, so the guests weren’t bored out of their minds for now, what with both the main attractions gone. Inaccurate, Kid and the gem were both right here. Well, at least Kid was. The gem might not be on him at the moment. It could, he noted with some horror, potentially have fallen into the ocean. That...hopefully that was not the case.

Anyway, dinner also meant Keibu, despite his insistence, could not yet finish searching the passengers.

“So no familiar faces, Fujimoto-san. You must be terribly lonely out here on your own.” 

“Now, now,  _ I did _ sign up for this trip. Besides, it isn’t that different from day to day, simply more exciting, I suppose.”

Saguru nodded. No one was here Kid could recognise, and it wasn’t surprising to him in the slightest. Of course. Lovely.

“I don’t usually get this much attention, I must say.” She mused, tapping her cheek just below her eye, then shifting her shoulder ever so slightly to the right. They were being watched.

Well, it was a lead. A dangerous one, but of course it was.  This was so much more than he’d ever had on Kaitou Kid’s snipers.

“...Hey...” Fujimoto-san started, then strailed off, eyes staring off in a direction away from their observer. “Don’t go anywhere just yet.”

“I wasn’t planning to. We still have two and a half hours until the boat docks.”

Fujimoto-san leaned in, a hand under her chin, gaze still distant. Something was off. Something was going very wrong here. 

“Just two, isn’t it? I’m opposed to the way the night has gone, honestly.”

Two snipers? One on the opposite side of the room from the other? He kept his breath steady, ignored the itch to look up past Kid’s shoulder and try to spot them. How did he know for sure? If one was communicating to the other then...that wasn’t a good sign.

_ Don’t go anywhere just yet _ . Saguru took a deep breath. 

Kid’s eyes locked onto his. He didn’t have to say anything, Saguru knew what it meant.

“Get down!” He heard Kid shout from halfway past the table’s top, though it was drowned out by a deafening crack, then another, and another. He heard the table above him take two of the bullets, made eye contact with Kid, who was holding something past Saguru’s left ear, what--

He didn’t hear anything from that side so much as he felt the air move to let an object shoot by. His heart was in his throat, and, from the set of the eyes and jaw in front of him, Kid was the same way.  An arm pulled further in and down, and he felt Kid move over him. No--No that was not how this was going to go.

The chair in front of him was shoved aside. Legs, grey suit, gun barrel, Saguru slid the emergency knife from his boot and lunged, pushed the barrel down to the ground, brought the knife up, anywhere--no. The man’s wrist, in a large arc, it hit, cut, a scream he didn’t hear just the ringing. Ringing. Kaito moved, turning, looking, acting. Saguru blinked. It was happening for the second time that night, that weightless rush of adrenaline making him float, making his heartbeat a jackhammer.

The senseless noise was cut only by the sound of the gun clattering to the ground. The man in front of him rocked back, a hand pressed against the red running down his hand, onto the ground, his knee, all in slow motion, and Kid moved again, turning, twisting. Saguru registered the sudden quiet as a ringing in his skull. The man in front of him was tackled to the ground by navy blue suits, the body pressed up against him suddenly left; a rolling motion out of Saguru’s periphery. He lunged, barely having the forethought to lead with his unoccupied hand, but Kid slipped by.

No one else made any real effort to stop Kid from climbing out a window and, presumably, up to a hidden glider and his escape. That...was fine. There was a long silence. The task force was listening, Saguru realised, like him, for another gunshot.

Nothing.

Reality was slowly fitting back together. Saguru stood, took in the dining hall. Overturned tables and scattered chairs making a map of the paths the wave of people took as they fled the scene. There were no limp bodies lying anywhere in the room, but there, on the white of one of the table clothes, there were red specks, not enough to indicate a serious injury, but ballistic damage was never a forgiving thing. No one was dead. Kid had escaped.

One of the task force members, Saguru noted belatedly and with a pang of regret, was on the floor. It was Arakida.

Saguru took another pass over the room. There had been two snipers, two people working together in the attack on Kid and on this room, but the only one he could see was the one he had struck: the man in grey lying surrounded on the floor, someone pressing down on his arm as Keibu and two others held him down. There was blood on that one. Saguru locked that fact up in a  _ For Later _ box and turned his gaze over the room once again, frantic--had he gotten away somehow? No, no that wasn’t okay, that wasn’t alright, it wasn’t--

Arakida was being held down.

Cold-nerved understanding took a moment to root into Saguru’s mind. At least one of the people on the Kaitou Kid task force was affiliated with the snipers. Arakida had been waiting outside Saguru’s room for an undetermined amount of time, likely enough to know that Kaitou Kid had, in fact, not been to Fujimoto-san’s room any time in the then-recent past. He would have seen how easily Saguru was going along with her word. He would have had reason to suspect Saguru’s working  _ with _ Kid, perhaps saw them talking and had gotten nervous, communicated to initiate an attack. 

It would have been a stupid reason for that decision. It was horrifying, opened up too many possibilities, and Saguru’s knees were a little weak. The task force was compromised.

It was compromised.

Saguru’s eyes met Nakamori-Keibu’s. He, too, looked grave. Then, the older man walked away from the sniper they’d both trusted on some level, that this man had to cope with the fact that he had hired him--and made his way through the tables and chairs to Saguru.

It took Saguru a moment to focus in on his boss, eyes drawn back to the stream of blood being held back by another task force member: a wound he had caused. A wound that had kept a bullet from entering Kaito’s skull, a wound that was deeper than he remembered, had no other people really been injured? Where there no fatalities? Was this going to be one? No...that was absurd. It was less certain, however, that the man would come out of this with his tendons intact.

A heavy hand jolted Saguru out of his head with a flinch, coming back to the rest of the room as a jacket, familiar, oversized, the faint smell of brine,  _ but also something else--where-- _ It was Keibu. Saguru blinked, the other memory filling in. It also reminded him of Aoko. This was Keibu’s jacket, and somehow also the one Kaito had used to try to hide himself in the hallway after nearly falling into the ocean.

“--Hakuba-kun. Are. You. Hurt?” Oh.

“No, sir, just a little shaken.” Keibu grunted in response, looking him over.

“Sit down.” And he did. Nakamori-Keibu seemed to take position next to him, barking orders from only a few feet away. It was silly. He should be moving around to where he was needed instead.

The full moon was so stark against the night sky as it began its arc back down below the horizon, even through the frame of a window. Kaito was in that sky, making his way home. Saguru closed his eyes.   
  
Tonight had been too much. No one was going to sleep.


End file.
